Mencius' ancestors were aristocrats in the state of Lu, and later his family declined and moved from the state of Lu to Zou (now southeast of Zoucheng, Shandong). He lost his father when he was three years old, and Meng Mu brought him up. When Mencius was young, his mother found him three places in order to give him a good learning environment. Later, people called it the Three Major Movements in Meng Mu. Meng Mu's godson is very strict, and his "moving godson" and "broken loom" have become a beautiful talk throughout the ages. There is a saying in Saint Amethyst that "Meng Mu used to choose a neighbor".
Mencius lived in an era when a hundred schools of thought contended, and "Yang Zhu's words prevailed in the world". Mencius criticized it fiercely from the standpoint of Confucianism. Mencius inherited and developed Confucius' thoughts and put forward a complete ideological system.
Mencius traveled around Qi, Jin, Song, Xue, Lu, Teng and Liang countries to lobby his thoughts of "benevolent governance" and "kingliness". However, because the vassal states were busy with war at that time, his theory of benevolent governance was considered as "circuitous and wider than things", and almost no one adopted his thought of governing the country. He returned to China to give lectures and write books with his disciples, and wrote seven "Mencius". Mencius maintained and developed Confucianism, put forward the theory of "benevolent governance" and "good nature" and adhered to "people-oriented".
His thoughts have a great influence on later generations. But his position was not very high before the Song Dynasty. Since Han Yu listed Mencius as the only figure in pre-Qin Confucianism who inherited Confucius' "Taoist orthodoxy", there has been a "promotion movement" of Mencius, and his status has gradually improved. His theory had a great influence on the Song Dynasty. In the fourth year of Xining in northern Song Shenzong (107 1), Mencius was first listed as one of the subjects in the imperial examination, and was later promoted to a Confucian classic. Zhu in the Southern Song Dynasty combined it with The Analects of Confucius, Daxue and The Doctrine of the Mean into four books. From the Yuan Dynasty to the first year of Shun Dynasty (1330), Mencius was named "Yashenggong" and later called "Yashenggong", ranking second only to Confucius. His thoughts and Confucius' thoughts are collectively called "The Way of Confucius and Mencius".
The main points of Mencius' theory
First, the theory of mind and nature 1. Four ends of good nature-the root of moral value Mencius' theory of good nature mainly plays the role of Confucius' view of benevolence. Confucius' "benevolence" lacks theoretical basis and has not explained the "root of moral value". Therefore, Mencius should establish a "conscious consciousness of the root of moral value" and think that goodness is the basic consciousness of human beings, which is manifested in compassion, shame, resignation and right and wrong. The "four ends" show that moral value consciousness is innate. This can supplement the deficiency of Confucius' theory of "benevolence" 2. Discrimination between righteousness and benefit-demonstration of moral value Mencius believes that the "four ends" are inherent in the conscious mind and belong to the "essence" of human beings, that is, the so-called "sex" of human beings. Human nature is necessarily different from animals, and this kind of "different from animals" means "dying well". He pointed out that people are not good because they are blinded by selfish desires. Therefore, people should give up self-interest in order to achieve social justice. The purpose is to establish a good personal morality. 3. Nourishing Qi into Virtue Mencius pointed out that only by cultivating self-cultivation and giving full play to kindness can the "four ends" in the heart be fully developed, which Mencius called "exhaustion". The cultivation of "doing one's best" cultivates noble spirit, makes people become "gentlemen" who are rich and powerful, but can't move or bend, and then control their emotions with "mind" to achieve virtue. 4. Moral Heaven Mencius believes that the real world is a moral world, and the standard behind the moral root is "heaven", which is manifested in people and is "sex". If people have enough self-cultivation, they can know the nature and achieve the "harmony between man and nature".
Second, political theory 1. Mencius pointed out that "the people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the least", and it is based on the premise that the government should protect the interests of the people and the monarch should take care of them. Therefore, the destiny lies in the heart, not in the monarch. The bitter king has no way, and the people can overthrow it. But if the monarch has a purpose, the people should stick to their posts. 2. Mencius, the former French king, advocated benevolent governance. He must follow the example of the former kings (Yu, Tang, Wen, Wu, and) to govern politics in order to implement benevolent governance in the world. 3. Benevolent policy and Wang Dao Mencius advocates that benevolent policy must be implemented first, and then benevolent policy can be implemented. Mencius believed that "people have a heart of forbearance" is a "policy of forbearance", and benevolent governance is a necessary condition for unifying the world. The concrete manifestation of benevolent government is kingly way, making the family serve the people and folk music, and implementing kingly way and "respecting the virtuous and enabling". 4. The concept of "benevolence" of Confucius is a conscious morality; Mencius' "benevolence" has both educational functions. The monarch mainly focuses on Xiu De, and virtue is the condition for implementing benevolent policies, so he advocates "the rule of virtue". 5. Opposing Hegemony Mencius advocated the benevolent policy of serving people with virtue and opposed the hegemonism of serving people with force, with the aim of alleviating the pain of people's livelihood and easing social contradictions. Therefore, Mencius advocated "kingly politics" and opposed bullying and being afraid of hard work to serve the people. 6. Restoring the Minefield System Mencius believes that the ideal economic system is the minefield system. The "farmland system" means that the land belongs to the state, and the state grants farmland to the people for cultivation, but the people also have to help cultivate farmland as a tax. So farmers have "constant production" (constant and fixed cultivated land), and the country will be stable.
Third, education proposition-implement Mencius' thought of "cultivating talents in the world" and advocate personality and moral education. He said, "We should strictly observe filial piety." . Moreover, Mencius believes that self-cultivation is the basic point of reading, but he also believes that human goodness cannot be cultivated from the outside (education can only play an influential role), and ultimately it must be realized by one's own thinking. In the method of self-cultivation, we advocate free development and guide the situation. In addition, Mencius also attached great importance to the learning environment. Only by putting students in a good environment and giving them spontaneous education can they succeed. The influence of Mencius' theory on later generations A. Enlightenment to Confucian Neo-Confucianism Mencius put forward "inner holiness" and pointed out that human nature is good, as long as everyone develops goodness, suppresses materialistic nature and reflects on himself. This method of introspection became the mainstream of Confucianism in later generations. Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Lu Jiuyuan, Wang Yangming and other Song and Ming Neo-Confucians all inherited Mencius' theory in this respect. B. Mencius regarded Yao, Shun, Yu, Yu, Wen Wang, Zhou Gong and Confucius as Confucian "orthodoxy" (a knowledge system of the same strain) when he formed the concept of "orthodoxy". Since then, the concept of orthodoxy and Confucianism have become an inseparable whole. C, the influence of people-oriented thought Mencius' people-oriented thought and benevolent government thought are all based on the people's hearts. This revolutionary theory became the original idea of China's traditional political theory. However, this theory lacks modern democratic spirit, but it has become the rational source of restraining absolute monarchy in the traditional governance system. Mencius' thought of "producing for the people" has become the highest ideal of economic systems in past dynasties, such as the land equalization system in Sui and Tang Dynasties.